STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 111
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2025
RE: H.B. No. 226
H.D. 1
Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2025
State of Hawaii
Madame:
Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 226 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WINDSHIELD TINTING,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to lower the minimum light transmittance levels permitted on car window glazing materials from thirty-five percent to twenty percent.
Your Committee finds that rising global temperatures and increased heat in the interior of vehicles due to climate change have become a growing concern for public health and safety. Your Committee further finds that existing vehicle window tinting regulations fail to adequately address the escalating heat buildup in cars, leading to discomfort and potential health risks for drivers and passengers.
Your Committee notes the safety concerns that darker tints can reduce visibility, both into and out of the vehicle, making it harder for drivers to see other vehicles or pedestrians, as well as difficult for law enforcement to see into the vehicle to conduct safety checks. Your Committee believes that existing tinting requirements should be updated to current climate changes, but also believes that protections should be in place to ensure that law enforcement officers are able to conduct any necessary safety checks at traffic stops.
Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Prohibiting a person from installing, mounting, adhering, affixing, or using a sun screening device in conjunction with glazing material of a motor vehicle with mirrored, metallic, red, yellow, amber, or blue tint;
(2) Requiring all drivers and passengers of motor vehicles with applied tint to roll down their windows when stopped by a law enforcement officer at a traffic stop;
(3) Reinstating the existing authorized light transmittance percentage for sun screening devices for front side wing vents and windows;
(4) Specifying that sun screening devices for side windows at the rear of the driver and rear windows on sedans, vans, minivans, trucks, and buses are allowed to have a light transmittance of no less than twenty percent;
(5) Specifying sun screening requirements do not apply to side windows to the rear of the driver and rear windows on sedans, in addition to vans, minivans, trucks, or buses;
(6) Increasing the minimum and maximum fines for:
(A) An owner of a motor vehicle violating sun screening device requirements by $50 each to $300 and $550, respectively; and
(B) The installer of any sun screening device in violating of sun screening device requirements by $200 each to $700 and $1,200, respectively;
(7) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and
(8) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 226, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 226, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation,
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____________________________ DARIUS KILA, Chair |
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